The following past Sundance Film Festival documentaries are scheduled for release this month:
>August 2
In Theatres
WAR GAME
Sundance 2024
Director:
Jesse Moss, Tony Gerber
About:
A bipartisan group of US defense, intelligence, and elected policymakers spanning five presidential administrations participate in an unscripted role-play exercise in which they confront a political coup backed by rogue members of the US military, in the wake of a contested presidential election.
>August 9
In Theatres
SUGARCANE
Sundance 2024
Director:
Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie
About:
An investigation into abuse and missing children at an Indian residential school ignites a reckoning on the nearby Sugarcane Reserve.
>August 9
In Theatres
DAUGHTERS
Sundance 2024
Director:
Angela Patton, Natalie Rae
About:
Four young girls prepare for a special Daddy Daughter Dance with their incarcerated fathers, as part of a unique fatherhood program in a Washington DC jail.
>August 13
On DVD
INDIGO GIRLS: IT’S ONLY LIFE AFTER ALL
Sundance 2023
Director:
Alexandria Bombach
About:
Blending 40 years of home movies, film archives, and intimate present-day vérité, a poignant reflection from Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of iconic folk rock duo Indigo Girls. A timely look into the obstacles, activism, and life lessons of two queer friends who never expected to make it big.
>August 14
Streaming: Netflix
DAUGHTERS
Sundance 2024
Director:
Angela Patton, Natalie Rae
About:
Four young girls prepare for a special Daddy Daughter Dance with their incarcerated fathers, as part of a unique fatherhood program in a Washington DC jail.
>August 20
On DVD
THE EXILES
Sundance 2022
Director:
Ben Klein, Violet Columbus
About:
Documentarian Christine Choy tracks down three exiled dissidents from the Tiananmen Square massacre in order to find closure on an abandoned film she began shooting in 1989.
>August 29
Streaming: Netflix
GOING VARISTY IN MARIACHI
Sundance 2023
Director:
Alejandra Vasquez, Sam Osborn
About:
In the competitive world of high school mariachi, the musicians from the South Texas borderlands reign supreme. Under the guidance of coach Abel Acuña, the teenage captains of Edinburg North High School’s acclaimed team must turn a shoestring budget and diverse crew of inexperienced musicians into state champions.
>August 30
In Theatres
SEEKING MAVIS BEACON
Sundance 2024
Director:
Jazmin Renée Jones
About:
Launched in the late ’80s, educational software Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing taught millions globally, but the program’s Haitian-born cover model vanished decades ago. Two DIY investigators search for the unsung cultural icon, while questioning notions of digital security, AI, and Black representation in the digital realm.
what (not) to doc 